UAE grants WeRide self-driving vehicle license

WeRide received the first national self-driving vehicle license from the UAE. The permit lets WeRide test Level 4 autonomous vehicles on public roads nationwide.

SAE Level 4 vehicles can drive autonomously in certain conditions.

The license advances UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s goal of making 25% of transportation autonomous by 2030.

Monday’s UAE Council of Ministers approved WeRide’s permit and an electric vehicle policy. That policy includes building a national charging network, regulating the EV market, and encouraging related industries like AVs to reduce emissions and improve roads.

Dubai, UAE’s largest city, has hosted several driverless vehicle trials. The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) held a World Conference on Self-Driving Transport in 2019 to bring industry leaders together. The September conference will feature a competition for autonomous bus solutions from companies and universities.

Dubai’s RTA wants to limit vehicle numbers and increase robotaxi operations to 4,000 by 2030.

The city has also welcomed Cruise, a San Francisco-based General Motors subsidiary, to test and develop robotaxis. Cruise mapped Dubai in July 2022 for a 2023 launch. The company plans to launch Cruise Origins, its robotaxi, in Dubai this year. In April, Dubai’s RTA confirmed that Cruise has several autonomous Chevy Bolts—at least five can be seen in one video—collecting data and testing in Jumeirah 1, a coastal residential area.

Cruise declined request for updates on its Dubai launch this year.

WeRide said it would test “all types of self-driving vehicles” nationwide. Robotaxis, robobuses, robovans, and autonomous street sweepers will use the company’s self-driving tech.

Last year, WeRide tested robotaxis on UAE public roads. The company joined the Chinese state-owned China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone in March.

Did not receive a response from the company on its launch, including which markets it will target first, how many vehicles it will test, or how it will commercialize.

WeRide is targeting Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. The Saudi Artificial Intelligence Company and the company announced a robobus route in Saudi Arabia in September 2022.

UAE’s regulations for testing, deploying, and commercializing autonomous vehicles are unclear. The General Secretariat of the Cabinet’s RegLab will conduct the testing, but neither it nor the RTA has responded to requests for information.

Most self-driving vehicle testing is in the U.S. and China, where local governments regulate.

California and Arizona have the most AV testing and commercialization in the U.S., but they regulate differently. The California Department of Motor Vehicles and California Public Utilities Commission must grant companies permits to test, deploy, and charge for rides with and without human safety drivers. California DMV permits WeRide to test AVs with and without drivers.

Arizona companies only need to self-certify that their vehicles can safely stop in the event of a system failure.